PEV sales analysis updated through April 2013

An update is now available on the UCLA Luskin Center EV
Initiative's Market
Dynamics page.
This presentation now includes facts and figures characterizing the U.S. sales
of over 96,000 plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) through April
2013.

Notable trends include:

* The cumulative PEV fleet on U.S. roads is capable of using its 2
million kilowatt-hours of batteries to drive nearly 6 million EPA-rated electric
miles before recharging.

* Over 37,000 Chevy Volts are now on U.S. roads. There are
almost as many Volts as LEAFs and Prius Plug-Ins (the next two most popular
PEVs) combined.

* Plug-in hybrids hold on to 60% of the cumulative PEV market, but continued
sales of the MY2013 LEAF at dramatically reduced price helped keep the
total monthly sales of all-battery models above that for
plug-in-hybrid models.

* This was reinforced by the April-leading sales of the Tesla Model S
(which are roughly estimated and increasingly not all U.S. sales). Model S
sales continue to influence the sales-weighted average characteristics of
all-battery EVs, which have been previously dominated by the LEAF. For example,
average battery size, motor power, electric range, and vehicle price have
increased, as has the all-battery revenue share of the PEV market.

* Most PEVs experienced a dip in month-to-month sales, except for the
Model S and the Fusion Energi, which continued to increase.

Background:

Are
EV sales really disappointing? That may be a matter of expectations (more
on this in the blog entry "Managing EV Expectations"). But what
are the facts so far? Soon there will be over 100,000 plug-in electric vehicles
(PEVs) on U.S. roads. And by some measures, PEVs are off to a much better
start than gasoline-only hybrids were a decade ago. U.S. PEVs represent $3.7
billion in gross revenues (and the Volt alone $1.4 billion). Learn
more from ongoing Luskin research, to be updated monthly, characterizing PEV
sales from December 2010 to the present.